This blog has been set up by Our Savior's Lutheran Church, West Bend, WI, to host postings of email updates from David and Nancy Slinde who are volunteering in El Salvador on behalf of Our Savior's, The Greater Milwaukee Synod of the ELCA, and Rotary International (among others).

David and Nancy Slinde Speaking at their "Sending Service"

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

agriculture projects

A relationship that started in 2010 with our Agriculture
Partner has continued to mature and we are witness to many ongoing
changes. A project we funded in 2010
continues to evolve into something none of us could fore see 6 years ago.

We first started working with our Agriculture Partner (AP)
after moving to our home in Concepcion Batres.
They took us to many sites where small family farms were supported with
the latest agriculture methods to improve yields. The only problem was lack of funds to purchase
more resources to include more residents of the volcanic range. After many visits, we were convinced that the
work of our AP was indeed the way to decrease poverty for the people living in
this range. With determination and the
Internet, we wrote to our home church and asked for a financial commitment to
expand this work.

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church West Bend Wisconsin invested
$15,000 to include more families in 2011. In 2013 a delegation from OSLC
visited those sites in Usulután/San Miguel to see first-hand how this
investment benefited Salvadorans. We
were impressed with the results, sampling four families of a total of 63
families that participated in the project.

There was nothing visionary in this investment; it followed
an established pattern. But in 2015 when
a young man from our AP spent 6 weeks at Wellspring Organic Farm, he began to
see a vision for a new agriculture model when he returned home.

The new model includes family cooperatives working together
in a large hot house. Each cooperative includes 10 families and each
cooperative grows a different vegetable or vegetables in the hot house. When
the crop ripens they harvest hundreds of pounds of produce that they sell it to
a middle man, who in-turn takes it to a larger market like San Salvador. The
old way is to sell whatever vegetable is ripe from their small garden, spending
a lot of time in the market and competing with other families from the same
community. The new model provides more
jobs, specialization, and more income.

Inside the hoop-house it’s hot! If these large hot houses were entertainment
tents you could seat 4,000 people in each site.
Watering is done via drip hose with water provided by rain collection
and also a stand-by gasoline powered water pump. The plants protected from insects, airborne
disease, and the environment allow for multiple crops per year.

Next year they will implement their own marketing
organization to sell directly to the larger markets, providing more work,
better profit and income for more families.

This project begun in 2011 with 63 families is growing and
evolving in something more dynamic. The
participants have a vision for the future and are developing a strong
leadership team who enjoy working together for the benefit of all. We are confident the project will continue to
grow and strengthen the lives of more families.

Are we relieving poverty in these communities and for these
people? A resounding yes, as we saw a
new barn, housing improvements and healthier families.